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Celine Dion

		Mon. April 22.2002 3:11 PM EDT
		Celine Dion: Let's Talk About Success   The Singer Explains Her Career High-Points   by Brian Meere
			Celine Dion ( )

When Celine Dion took a temporary retirement from the stage following her 1999 Millennium concert, it was her first break in a career spanning 20 years. Now, after clearing her head and opening her heart to her one-year-old baby boy, she�s back with Sign up to receive FREE UPDATES for Celine Dion! E-Mail this story to a friend Add VH1 News to My Yahoo a chart-topping album, A New Day Has Come. She�s also appearing at VH1 Divas Las Vegas. The singer sat down with VH1 to recount the various high points of her extraordinary life, being a new parent, and her plans for the future. Champs Elysees French Variety Show (1983) I was 14 years old, still a baby at the time. I was with my mother. It was my first French TV show and very nerve-racking. But I was ready for it. I didn�t really rehearse. I did my vocal exercises, but I didn�t have a lot of training. When it was time for me to perform live, I didn�t know how I was going to present myself. I concentrated on not changing hands with the microphone. I did that a lot because I was quite nervous. But I wanted to sing my song with as much emotion as possible. I was going to perform on television like I was in my living room and all those people were my brothers and sisters. I didn�t want to think about how I was gonna be. First appearance on The Tonight Show (1990) I went crazy about what I was going to wear, which is ridiculous because I should be concerned about what I am going to sing! But when it�s your first time doing such an important TV show, you know a lot of people will be watching - the whole province of Quebec! We hoped that it was going to open doors for us. It was [around the time of] my first English album. I was going to sing �Where Does My Heart Beat Now?� They told me they wanted me to come back on the show while I was rehearsing. I said, �What do you mean we are coming back? We are not doing this show now?� Rene [Angelil, manager and husband] was jumping in the air. He said, �Yes, we are doing it tonight, but they are so happy with you they want you to come back. We are booked for another time.� When I came home, the people from Quebec did a TV commercial with the message, �Congratulations for last night. You were great on Jay Leno.� I went to school not long after that because Rene said, �Celine, if you want to sing English you have to learn the language.� So I went to a Berlitz school for two months, every day, nine to five. It was very intensive. I was not speaking the language fluently; singing it was a little bit easier. But it was scary to do an English interview. What am I going to do if I don�t understand? Say, �Excuse me, Jay Leno, I don�t understand what you�re talking about?� �My Heart Will Go On� (1998) I will perform this song for the rest of my life and it will always remain a very emotional experience for me. [Titanic director] James Cameron didn�t want to have any songs in this movie. The composer James Horner wrote that song without him knowing. He said, �James Cameron does not know about this, but would you sing that song just to give it a try as a demo?� So we did a demo, and the demo became the record. I never re-sang the song. They built the orchestra around it. I�m glad James Cameron changed his mind about having a song in the movie. A lot of people related to that song. I�m here because I want to be with people. I want to enter their lives. [That song is] a very important moment in both my career and my life. Being impersonated on Saturday Night Live (1998) Sometimes people imitate you, and Anna Gasteyer exaggerates my character and personality, but it�s funny. I asked her to come and be part of my show and do a number with me. [During a show] when it was time for me to change for the Titanic thing, I used to come up in the middle of the stage, changing my wardrobe, putting on my big dress for the finale. Instead, she came on stage in my dress and started to exaggerate - �Nearrrr, farrrrr� - the whole thing. Everybody thought it was me. People in the audience thought I was going to go crazy. Finally I came on stage behind her and I�m like, �Hello?� Everybody cracked up. I�m flattered when they take the time to impersonate you. I think it�s a good sign. VH1 Divas Live (1998) Everything that I decide to do means something, otherwise I don�t do them. That night I was going to be surrounded by amazing, talented people like Aretha Franklin, Mariah Carey, Gloria Estefan, and Shania Twain. I was also going to be with my band, which is a pleasure every time. I was going to sing, which is one of the things that I enjoy most in life. I remember when Carole King came on stage. We joined her and sang �You�ve Got a Friend,� which is one of my favorite songs. The audience sang along with us. It was fun, it was wild. Everybody wanted to be a diva! The Millennium Concert on New Year�s Eve, Montreal (1999) It was very emotional to be home and do one last farewell show. I was going on to my new life, which was very important for me. I was looking forward to seeing my husband and having a life and maybe trying to have a little child and have no schedule, no training, no discipline. I knew I was going to come back, so it wasn�t like �Ciao! Adios! I�m leaving forever!� It was like, �I�m going on vacation. Thank you for all the great moments you�ve given me and maybe we�ll see each other soon.� There was no sadness. One emotional moment in the show for me and Rene and my family was when we did the countdown to the year 2000. That was special and scary, because a lot of things had been said like, �Oh, it�s going to be the end of the world.� But that night my family and husband came on stage. Everybody hugged, everybody kissed. I looked in the audience. There were no strangers. Everybody was singing and cheering and hugging. That was a beautiful picture to look at. Having a baby (2001) Becoming a mother makes you a grown-up. You�re all they have. They trust you, they need you. That�s all they want. They want to be loved, protected and supported. Children know the secrets of life. They know everything. To be around children makes you discover the child that you are inside. I approach my whole life differently now. Nothing really has the same meaning anymore. I had lots of dreams when I was younger: to become an international singer, to sing in different languages, to talk in different languages, to be in movies, to travel the world, sell a lot of records. I�ve done lots of things, but they are no longer dreams. My real dream came true. We had a son. America: A Tribute To Heroes (2001) It was a very hard thing for me. Originally, I was supposed to go to a recording studio to perform �God Bless America� and they were going to film me. Obviously the whole thing changed in just a few hours. They wanted me to sing live in New York. I didn�t want to leave my son. I was still breast-feeding at the time. My husband and I were crying. Going to New York I thought I was never going to come back, but I�m glad I went. It was a responsibility. Once somebody asked you to do something like that, to represent, I had no choice. Nobody had a dressing room. Everybody was backstage together. It was a very emotional experience and I�m just happy that I did it. Her Vegas show (2002) Two years ago I saw the Cirque de Soleil. It changed my vision of my performing. This is what I wanted for me. Rene said, �You can�t have a show like that. You can�t travel with a show like that. It�s too big. Forget about it. It�s impossible!� I said, �Why don�t we move then?� He said, �Are you serious?� I said, �For sure, I�m serious.� Caesar�s Palace were interested in building a 4000-seater Coliseum for us. Cirque du Soleil�s Franco Dragone was interested in working with us. Things turned out great. The only way to be stable is to be in one place. I�m going to be based in Las Vegas for three years. And I�m able to give the visual show I want for my fans. Every song will become an experience. It�s not going to be singing one song right after the other. It�s going to be 50 or 60 performers on stage with me doing things that I could never have on tour. Every song will be a video. It�s going to be very spectacular.